Gender, Technology and Development recent issues

Can Career-Minded Young Women Reverse Gender Discrimination? A View from Bangalore's High-Tech Sector

Clark, A. W., Sekher, T.V. — 2008-08-26

Women's status in India is mixed, with many positive and negative indicators. The devaluation of daughters leads parents to resort to sex-selective abortions and infanticide— practices currently spreading to previously unaffected areas. In relation to this negative picture, interviews with women employed in the Information Technology (IT) sector in Bangalore suggest its opposite: a partial reversal of daughter devaluation is currently emerging in the families of young women in India's high-tech sector. Studies on employment in the IT sector in India have not adequately considered important long-term, intergenerational impacts of this new development on the whole culture of daughter devaluation.

This article strives to fill this gap by illustrating that when young women find opportunities to improve their financial autonomy, mobility and social acceptance in a male-dominated society, there are far-reaching implications for social demographic change, and also for gender equality, through the evolution of the two-income family model departing from the concept of the male breadwinner. This change may have wider

Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management: A Critical View

Panda, S. M. — 2008-08-26

This article offers a critical perspective on gender mainstreaming in water management in India by exploring the linkages between pre-given notions of ‘gender’ in mainstreaming rhetoric and selected practices of water management. Evaluative studies have shown that gender mainstreaming is not effective if restricted to practices that try to make women visible or simply add a gender component in an intervention program. The much publicized ‘Women, Water and Work’ campaign initiated by India's Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) by and large excluded men, and the newly-instituted water sector reforms, which promote privatization and marginalize women in the process, are selected for analysis to distill the meanings of gender and social interests. Prospects for effective gender mainstreaming in water management will hinge on how the main agenda can address the transformation of gender relations and treat water as a human right so as to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in developing countries.

Identity, Technological Communication and Education in the Age of Globalization

Acharya, S. — 2008-08-26

The purpose of this article is to bring together various elements that portray the complex conceptuality of cultural identity within technological society. It engages in a theoretical inquiry into the questions of how the wide-ranging uses young people are now making of new information and communication technologies and global media may possess the potential to transform their cultural identity and how educational institutions should understand and respond to this evolving cultural reality. In discussing these questions, it refers to recent theories of cultural identity, especially as they relate to the increasing volume of global flows of ideas and ideologies, people, finance and cultural practices, and specific theories about the nature of technology in terms of explicating the relationship between society and technology. Finally, it concludes with implications for gender in educational practices of technology use.

‘We now live...in an open space-time, in which there are no more identities, only transformations’ (Zygmunt Bauman)

Disaster Mitigation and Furthering Women's Rights: Learning from the Tsunami

Akerkar, S. — 2008-08-26

Vulnerability has long been accepted as an important factor in post-disaster recovery which affects the ability of the survivors to recover from multi-dimensional impacts. This comparative and cross-cultural study of the effects of tsunami on women in four countries looks more closely into the factors and processes that have led to the exclusion of certain groups of women from relief and recovery assistance. These include female heads of households, widows, the elderly and those belonging to marginalized groups such as migrants and stateless communities. Examining the current gender-neutral framing of social protection systems in the disaster areas and their operations, I show that vulnerability is not only an outcome of localized and individual dimensions like age, gender and marital status but that they have deeper relations with national and global powers who perpetuate institutionalized discrimination through such systems, and how they are unable to give these groups of women the much needed protection and assistance to live with dignity. A case is made for the recognition of compounded discrimination based on the fact that their vulnerable positions prior to the disaster have indeed led to their exclusion from relief and recovery activities, leaving them poorer and worst-off. Further, to redress this trend I propose a women's human rights strategy in disaster management which adopts as its

Book Reviews

2008-08-26

Recent Books on Gender and Technology

2008-08-26

Comparative Studies on Policy and Gender Implications of Biotechnology and Biosafety in Thailand and China

2008-08-26

Norwegian Scholarships for the Master's and Doctoral Programs

2008-08-26

Gender, Culture and ICT Use in Rural South India

Best, M. L., Maier, S. G. — 2007-10-17

In this article we explore how women use and perceive information technology in five villages in rural Tamil Nadu, India. We analyse the outcomes from structured in-depth interviews with 17 women Internet kiosk users and 22 women who have never used the Internet (non-users). Our intention was to systematically document the information and communication needs of women in rural South India as articulated by the women themselves. We identify several critical issues that must be taken into account in the design of information and communication technology (ICT) projects. Our findings suggest four main conclusions: (1) rural women in this study find ICTs useful; (2) there are gender-specific usage patterns and perceptions of ICTs; (3) obstacles to ICT use are generally structural (time, location, illiteracy) and not personal (for example, a prohibition from a relative); and (4) manifestations of gender awareness correlate with perceptions of obstacles to ICT use. Information and communication technologies hold great promise in the drive for development and poverty reduction in the global South, yet in order to ensure that the entire population reaps the benefits of these technologies, a clear understanding of the specific needs of women and other disadvantaged groups is imperative.

Gender in the Information Society: Strategies of Inclusion

Faulkner, W., Lie, M. — 2007-10-17

This article reports from a European study on efforts to close a gendered digital divide through inclusion. The authors argue that inclusion is not just a mirror image of exclusion, and that to achieve inclusion, it is not sufficient to curb exclusion mechanisms but to enhance positive measures of inclusion. A variety of inclusion strategies have been studied, the authors concluding that ‘one size does not fit all’. Therefore, to reach a wide audience, a combination of many different strategies is needed. More women users are not sufficient to increase women's influence on ICT development, however. Particular measures are needed to recruit more women into the ICT profession and to curb marginalization within the profession.

Plant Tissue Culture Industry and Women's Participation: 'Nimble Fingers' or Docile Labor?

Reddy, C. R. — 2007-10-17

Technological advancements have enabled some of the most potent sources of changes in the nature and tasks of workers in general, and of women workers in particular. Application of plant tissue culture technology, a commercially successful biotechnology, has the potential to radically alter social organization of the horticultural plant propagation process. This article examines from a gender perspective the changes brought about in plant tissue culture technology in the organization of production of horticultural plantlets. In an empirical study of the plant tissue culture industry, it was observed that biotechnological interventions have led to greater participation of women in the production process. However, women's tasks were found to be repetitive, routine and tantamount to drudgery. Although preference for woman labor is attributed to ‘nimble fingers’, the latent motto was found to be to ensure a regular supply of cheap docile labor and to avoid the prospect of unionization.

Domestic Violence against Women in Nepal

Paudel, G. S. — 2007-10-17

This article aims to explore the phenomenon of women experiencing gender-based violence (GBV) at home, strategies adopted by women to manage GBV; knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among health service providers (HSPs) and law enforcers to support GBV victims and to recommend appropriate policy and program initiatives for combating GBV in Nepal. GBV is an attitudinal problem of men towards women in Nepal. Men always feel superior to women and try to keep them subservient and commit violence if women are not able to understand their sentiments and act accordingly for pleasing them and performing their reproductive and productive roles, including household chores. One-third (35 percent) of women in Nepal experience GBV at home, although most violence is unreported and unrecorded in informal or formal institutions. Psychological violence was found to be high, followed by physical, economic and sexual violence. The main reasons for perpetuating violence against women are the low educational status of women, bringing less dowry at the time of marriage, no control over resources by women and low educational status of the perpetuators. Promulgating a law to criminalize GBV perpetrators and the formulation and implementation of educational and training programs to reduce GBV are immediate needs of the country.

Impacts of Armed Conflicts on Women in Nepal

Hamal, B. — 2007-10-17

Book Reviews

2007-10-17

Recent Books on Gender and Technology

2007-10-17

Conference Reports

2007-10-17

News and Events

2007-10-17

The Gender Relations of Software Work in Vietnam

Wajcman, J., Lobb, L. A. P. — 2007-04-03

Studies of women and Information Technology (IT) in developing countries have primarily focused on the impacts of IT on women's employment opportunities and on their economic power. By contrast, here we examine the nature and quality of the jobs themselves in the context of the Vietnamese software industry. This article presents data from the first systematic survey of Vietnam's software workforce. Although the industry is relatively young, gender segregation in software work has already been firmly established. Women are concentrated in jobs that are considered to be less skilled than those of men, such as testing as opposed to programming and systems design. This, in turn, has led to a gender gap in pay and training, as well as posed career barriers for women. The case study illustrates how the long-standing interconnection of gender, skill, and technology still functions to men's advantage, as a result of which women remain marginalized in the course of technological design.

A Curious Space 'in-between': The Public\Private Divide and Gender-based Activism in Singapore

Lyons, L. — 2007-04-03

In Singapore, the state's role in shaping the space of civil society has been well- documented. Many scholars argue that civil society in Singapore is largely a state-sanctioned sphere of engagement that has emerged in response to middle-class pressure for greater political liberalization. In these accounts, the space of civil society is described as an arena that is shaped by the state, and in which the state constantly intervenes. What is less clear, however, is how the space of civil society is gendered. Through an analysis of women's activism in Singapore, this article deconstructs the binaries ‘public\private’ and ‘state\civil society’ that dominate discussions of women's engagement with the state. By posing questions not only about the limitations of state-sponsored social change, but also about the possibilities for feminist intervention in the public and private spheres, I shed light on the relationship between an expanding civil society, an encroaching state, and the possibilities for increased gender equality via democratization.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Conundrums of the Rape Legal Reform Campaign in Malaysia

Hui, T. B. — 2007-04-03

This article looks at how initiatives to improve laws relating to rape in Malaysia have affected the overall national discourse on sexuality and gender, including that on sexuality rights. Following the introduction which lays out the context in which the article's analysis is grounded, the article traces the history of the rape legal reform campaign—how this began, what its initial motivations were, and which demands were finally achieved out of the first phase of lobbying by women's groups in the mid- to late-1980s. An update and discussion on the outcome of the second phase of the anti-rape campaign (late-1990s to present day) is also provided. Through this, the article examines the movement's successes, shortcomings and the factors governing these, as well as critiques the actions by women's groups in advocating further reforms to the law. It concludes with a discussion on the lessons learnt and what needs to be considered to ensure that sexual spaces, discourses and rights are not marginalized further in the current political milieu.

Unpacking the Assumption of Gender Neutrality: Akshaya Project of the Kerala IT Mission in India

Mukhopadhyay, S., Nandi, R. — 2007-04-03

Programs and projects that are not targeted to specific population groups often implicitly assume that they have no adverse distributional effects. However, this is hardly ever the case, especially if the intended beneficiary groups are not reasonably homogeneous. There is increasing recognition in development circles that in the absence of informed affirmative action, inequalities in income distribution and human resources can seriously distort the distribution of project outcomes of seemingly neutral projects. Gender experts have been suggesting that similar kinds of distortions can arise also across gender divides, but this has not translated into restructured project designs in any substantive ways. This article is based on a study of a high-profile ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Project of the Kerala (a Southern Indian state) IT Mission—Akshaya. The study finds that there are indeed varied kinds of gender differences in the impact of the project, and that the differences are pretty sharply defined, especially within the entrepreneur group. It also suggests that with a somewhat greater degree of gender sensitivity and some flexibility in the project design, some of the problems that women entrepreneurs have been facing could have been addressed without much trouble even within the existing project design.

Revisiting the Prostitution Debate in the Technology Age: Women Who Use the Internet for Sex Work in Bangkok

Veena, N. — 2007-04-03

Book Reviews

2007-04-03

Recent Books on Gender and Technology

2007-04-03

Conference Reports

2007-04-03

News and Events

2007-04-03

Technology and Tricks: Intra-Household Technology Implementation and Gender Struggles

Ghertner, D. A. — 2007-01-11

This article argues for non-asset-based approaches to the assessment of technology implementation at the household level. It suggests that most studies of technology and gender focus primarily on the relationship between technology implementation and women's access to material resources without giving adequate attention to non-asset-based strategic possibilities for social change. Using the case of a cookstove improvement program in rural north India, the article shows that existing approaches to studying gender and technology implementation have underspecified the role of strategic gain in household bar-gaining and that existing theories of ‘resistance’ do not adequately describe the subtle forms of political action that take place in the household. It offers a new way of conceptualizing ‘tricks’ in the realm of household negotiation over technology and policy implementation, places this form of strategic struggle in relation to theories of resistance, and suggests the importance of understanding such struggle for development policy.

Engendering Mining Communities: Examining the Missing Gender Concerns in Coal Mining Displacement and Rehabilitation in India

Ahmad, N., Lahiri-dutt, K. — 2007-01-11

Forced displacement by development projects seriously affects the well-being of communities, revealing mixed and varied outcomes. Although scholars and policymakers have recognized the need for new forms of interventions, gender aspects of displacement and rehabilitation remain mostly unexamined in the empirical literature, which largely assumes that women's and men's experiences of displacement and rehabilitation processes are similar. Consequently, rehabilitation policy remains largely gender-blind, insensitive to the differential impacts upon and diverse concerns of women and men affected by development projects. Seeking to fill this knowledge gap, this article brings into focus how the restructuring of state-controlled coal mining in the regions of Jharkhand in Eastern India and the resulting displacement of local communities, including adivasi (indigenous) communities, affect women in gender-specific ways. Displacement from the original habitations often means not only the physical relocation but also the loss of livelihoods derived from the subsistence resources offered by the local environment. For women in these communities, the value of these resources cannot be overstated. This article argues for a refocus of policy debates on displacement and rehabilitation in ways that can engender the meaning of ‘the community’ and offer a gender-specific appreciation of issues regarding resource control and livelihood.

Women, Society and Water Technologies: Lessons for Bureaucracy

Singh, N. — 2007-01-11

Water technologies are increasingly regarded as pivotal to the process of societal development. One arena of importance is the delivery of water to society through comprehensive water supply programs that aim at ensuring ‘safe’ water for all. The principal target group in these programs is women, whose development is believed to be promoted through improved water facilities offering them greater convenience, better health and enhanced socio-economic opportunities. These programs can be seen as having three essential aspects, namely technology, people and institutions. Of these, the responsibilities of designing technologies for supplying water, creating institutional frameworks for their execution and implementing the program at the people's end for their benefit all lie with development bureaucracies. But the extent to which these bureaucracies can be sensitive to the socio-cultural contexts of the communities and the women for whom the program interventions are designed and implemented remains problematic. This article explores the gender dimensions of the socio-cultural context of water and how this may play a role in the adoption and management of improved water technologies. A perspective on the lessons for planning bureaucracies is offered to make the concerned technologies more efficient, effective and sustainable.

South African Experience of Gender and Affirmative Action: A Research Report

Kongolo, M., Bojuwoye, O. — 2007-01-11

Book Reviews

2007-01-11

Recent Books on Gender and Technology

2007-01-11

Conference Reports

2007-01-11

News and Events

2007-01-11

Index to Volume 10 (2006)

2007-01-11